Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to security control techniques, and more particularly, to security control by transmitting the identification number of a mobile device to a terminal device through touch-link technology for verification on the terminal device.
Description of the Related Art
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a particular wireless identification and communication technology which enables electronic devices, such as mobile devices, consumer electronics, personal computers (PCs), and smart devices, to wirelessly communicate with each other in close distance through magnetic field communication, so that users of the electronic devices may intuitively exchange information, contents of interviews, and services therewith.
Due to growing market demand for handheld devices (e.g., mobile phones) with the NFC feature, mobile payment is widely available, including paying with NFC devices that serve as electronic wallets, and collecting with NFC devices that serve as Point of Sale (POS) units. However, the NFC feature inevitably increases the size of an NFC device since an extra component, such as a card sensor or the like, is required for signal transmission and reception through magnetic field communication. In addition, the extra component also imposes physical limitations on the structure and component material of the NFC device.
Along with the development of touch-sense technology, touch-controlled panel devices have become more and more popular. In an application of touch-sense technology, a touch-controlled panel device can detect and respond to physical contact by a user. Besides touch-sense technology, “touch-link technology” for touch-controlled panel devices has recently been developed, such as that recited in patent applications US 2011/0304583, US 2013/0147760, and CN 102916729A, which implements near field wireless communication by trying to utilize the existing touch-controlled panel and the corresponding hardware devices. Generally, a touch-controlled panel device includes a touch panel, a signal processing circuit and a central processing unit (CPU). For example, the touch-controlled panel device may be a touch pad without a display function or a touch screen with a display function. The touch-controlled panel device may include a touch sensor. The touch sensor includes a plurality of driving electrodes and a plurality of sensing electrodes on a substrate. The touch-controlled panel device is usually implemented with Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) materials. The signal processing circuit is usually implemented by an Integrated Circuit (IC). The signal-processing circuit provides two main functions. One is performing analog-to-digital conversion, demodulation, or other signal-processing procedures on the analog signals received from the touch panel, and then transmitting the processed signals to the CPU. Another is receiving digital signals from the CPU, performing modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, or other signal-processing procedures on the received digital signals and then transmitting the processed signals to the touch panel. In an application of touch-sense technology, when user touches the touch-controlled panel device with his finger or a stylus, corresponding analog signals are generated by the touch on the driving electrodes and sensing electrodes via the touch sensor. The signals are transmitted to the CPU after being processed by the signal processing circuit. The CPU calculates the position where the user has touched via proper algorithm(s) and responses to the contact of the user. In the application of touch-link technology, the driving electrode and/or the sensing electrode can act as a transmitting electrode for transmitting signals, and the driving electrode and/or the sensing electrode can act as a receiving electrode for receiving signals. When transmitting signals, a touch-controlled panel device can modulate and process the signal to be transmitted by the signal processing circuit, and transmit the processed signals to another touch-controlled panel device via the transmitting electrode by electric field coupling. The receiving electrode of the other touch-controlled panel device receives the transmitted signal. When receiving signals, a touch-controlled panel device can receive a signal via the receiving electrode by electric field coupling, demodulate the signals by the signal processing circuit, and then transmit the processed signal to the processer for further processing. Therefore, the signals can be transmitted and received by using the original electrodes to realize touch transmission based on electric fields without an inductive card reader or components with a similar function being incorporated. Compared to the conventional NFC technology, touch-link technology reduces both volume and cost. This is because some of the existing hardware may be reused. For system developers, the additional effort may be some software and/or firmware revision and porting so as to enable the existing hardware to support touch-link technology. For example, a protocol may be needed when using touch-link technology to transmit and/or receive data; the software may be modified to implement the protocol. Of course, touch-link technology also works when not using the existing hardware such as the existing touch-controlled panel device, but when using another touch-controlled panel and the signal processing circuit to realize touch-link technology. In addition, in an application of the touch sense technology, there are two common types of touch-controlled panel devices, including the capacitive type and resistive type. For the applications of touch-link technology, besides the capacitive type of touch-controlled panel devices, the resistive type of touch-controlled panel devices can also be used to realize the touch-link technology.
On the other hand, with rapid development of ubiquitous computing and networking, daily errands, such as distance education, electronic commerce, social networking, online gaming, and household registration, may be easily accomplished via online transactions. Despite the convenience, a user is inevitably required to register a respective account and password for each service website or device as the key to gaining access thereto. Unfortunately, the user may be forced to set up multiple accounts and passwords for different service websites or devices due to each service website or device having its own rules for defining an account and password, or the habitual account and/or password of the user already being taken in some service websites or devices. Thus, as the number of accounts and passwords increases, the management of multiple accounts and passwords has become a heavy burden for users.
For security controls over electronic devices, one of the most common solutions is for users to memorize their own accounts and passwords, which is highly unreliable and inefficient. Alternatively, there are other authentication methods which do not require any account and password, such as fingerprint identification, speech recognition, and face identification. For security controls over service websites, one of the most common solutions is to allow a browser to automatically save the inputted accounts and passwords. However, the security level provided by this solution is low, since anyone who has access to the electronic device can use the account and password through the browser. Not to mention that, the solution lacks portability due to the account and password being saved only in the electronic device. Thus, it is desirable to have a more flexible and efficient method of security control which not only blocks unauthorized access but also eliminates the burden on users of managing accounts and passwords.